Scott Spann

Scott Spann is a Certified Financial Planner and holds a Ph.D. in Personal Financial Planning. He is a Senior Financial Planner and financial wellness coach with Financial Finesse, which provides workplace financial education and counseling.

Scott has been the Retirement Planning expert for The Balance (and prior to that, About.com) since 2015.

Experience

Scott is a Certified Financial Planner professional, researcher, and author with over 18 years of experience writing about personal finance topics. He specializes in retirement planning, financial wellness, and the psychology of money.

Scott is a Senior Financial Planner at Financial Finesse, where his mission is to make financial education available to everyone and help people prepare for retirement. He currently leads Financial Finesse's CFP-Board-approved continuing education program.

Scott is also an Adjunct Professor at Maryville University where he teaches personal finance and advanced financial planning courses.

Education

Scott holds a Ph.D. degree in Personal Financial Planning from Kansas State University. He also obtained a B.S. in Psychology from The College of Charleston and an M.A. in Clinical Counseling from The Citadel. Scott earned the CFP® designation from the Certified Financial Planner Board of Standards in 2005.

Scott’s academic research has focused on topics related to retirement preparedness, financial wellness in the workplace, and the integration of money and life.

About The Balance and Dotdash

The Balance makes personal finance easy to understand. It is home to experts who provide clear, practical advice on managing your money. Whether you’re looking to invest, buy a home, save for retirement, or achieve another financial goal, The Balance will answer your questions with straightforward personal financial advice.

The Balance is part of the Dotdash publishing family. For more than 20 years, Dotdash brands have been helping people find answers, solve problems, and get inspired. We are one of the top-20 largest content publishers on the internet, according to comScore, and reach more than 30% of the U.S. population every month. Most recently, Dotdash was named Publisher of the year by Digiday, a leading industry publication.